Aluminum alloy wire

ABSTRACT

An aluminum alloy wire having an electrical conductivity of at least sixty-one percent (61%) based on the International Annealed Copper Standard and unexpected properties of increased ultimate elongation, bendability and fatigue resistance when compared to conventional aluminum alloy wire of the same tensile strength. The aluminum alloy wire contains substantially evenly distributed iron aluminate inclusions in a concentration produced by the addition of more than about 0.30 weight percent iron to an alloy mass containing less than about 99.70 weight percent aluminum, no more than 0.15 weight percent silicon, and trace quantities of conventional impurities normally found within a commercial aluminum alloy. The substantially evenly distributed iron aluminate inclusions are obtained by continuously casting an alloy consisting essentially of less than about 99.70 weight percent aluminum, more than 0.30 weight percent iron, no more than 0.15 weight percent silicon and trace quantities of typical impurities to form a continuous aluminum alloy bar, hot-working the bar substantially immediately after casting in substantially that condition in which the bar is cast to form continuous rod which is subsequently drawn into wire without intermediate anneals and annealed after the final draw. After annealing, the wire has the aforementioned novel and unexpected properties of increased ultimate elongation, electrical conductivity of at least sixty-one percent (61%) of the International Annealed Copper Standard, and increased bendability and fatigue resistance.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

.[.This application is a continuation-in-part of copending applicationSer. No. 779,376 filed Nov. 27, 1968, which in turn, is acontinuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 730,933 filed May21, 1968, both now abandoned..].

.Iadd.This application is a continuation of reissue application Ser. No.296,825, filed Oct. 12, 1972, abandoned and is a reissue of U.S. Pat.No. 3,512,221, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.779,376, filed Nov. 27, 1968, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-partof application Ser. No. 730,933, filed May 21, 1968, abandoned..Iaddend.

This invention relates to an aluminum alloy wire suitable for use as anelectrical conductor and more particularly concerns an aluminum alloywire having an acceptable electrical conductivity and improvedelongation, bendability and tensile strength.

The use of various aluminum alloy wires (conventionally referred to asEC wire) as conductors of electricity is well established in the art.Such alloys characteristically have conductivities of at least sixty-onepercent of the International Annealed Copper Standard (hereinaftersometimes referred to as IACS) and chemical constituents consisting of asubstantial amount of pure aluminum and small amounts of conventionalimpurities such as silicon, vanadium, iron, copper, manganese,magnesium, zinc, boron and titanium. The physical properties of prioraluminum alloy wire have proven less than desirable in manyapplications. Generally desirable percent elongations have been obtainedonly at less than desirable tensile strengths and desirable tensilestrengths have been obtainable only at less than desirable percentelongations. In addition, the bendability and fatigue resistance ofprior aluminum alloy wires has been so low that the prior wire has beengenerally unsuitable for many otherwise desirable applications.

Thus, it becomes apparent that a need has arisen within the industry foran aluminum alloy electrically conductive wire which has both improvedpercent elongation and improved tensile strength, and also possesses anability to withstand numerous bends at one point and to resist fatiguingduring use of the conductor. Therefore, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide an aluminum alloy wire of acceptable conductivityand improved physical properties such that the conductor may be used innew applications. Another object of the present invention is to providean aluminum alloy wire having novel properties of increased ultimateelongation and tensile strength, improved bendability and fatigueresistance and acceptable electrical conductivity. These and otherobjects, features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description of the invention.

In accordance with this invention, the present aluminum alloyelectrically conductive wire is prepared from an alloy comprising lessthan about 99.70 weight percent aluminum, more than about 0.30 weightpercent iron, and no more than 0.15 weight percent silicon. Preferably,the aluminum content of the present alloy comprises from about 98.95 toless than about 99.45 weight percent with particularly superior resultsbeing achieved when from about 99.15 to about 99.40 weight percentaluminum is employed. Preferably, the iron content of the present alloycomprises about 0.45 weight percent to about 0.95 weight percent withparticularly superior results being achieved when from about 0.50 weightpercent to about 0.80 weight percent iron is employed. Preferably, nomore than 0.07 weight percent silicon is employed in the present alloy.The ratio between the percentage iron and the percentage silicon must be1.99:1 or greater. Preferably, the ratio between percentage iron andpercentage silicon is 8:1 or greater. Thus, if the present aluminumalloy contains an amount of iron within the low area of the presentrange for iron content, the percentage of aluminum must be increasedrather than increasing the percentage of silicon outside the ratiolimitation previously specified. It has been found that properlyprocessed wire having aluminum alloy constituents which fall within theabove-specified ranges possesses acceptable electrical conductivity andimproved tensile strength and ultimate elongation and in addition has anovel unexpected property of surprisingly increased bendability andfatigue resistance.

The present aluminum alloy is prepared by initially melting and alloyingaluminum with the necessary amounts of iron or other constituents toprovide the requisite alloy for processing. Normally, the content ofsilicon is maintained as low as possible without adding additionalamounts to the melt. Typical impurities or trace elements are alsopresent within the melt, but only in trace quantities such as less than0.05 weight percent each with a total content of trace impuritiesgenerally not exceeding 0.15 weight percent. Of course, when adjustingthe amounts of trace elements due consideration must be given to theconductivity of the final alloy since some trace elements affectconductivity more severely than others. The typical trace elementsinclude vanadium, copper, manganese magnesium, zinc, boron and titanium.If the content of titanium is relatively high (but still quite lowcompared to the aluminum, iron and silicon content), small amounts ofboron may be added to tie-up the excess titanium and keep it fromreducing the conductivity of the wire.

Iron is the major constituent added to the melt to produce the alloy ofthe present invention. Normally, about 0.50 weight percent is added tothe typical aluminum component used to prepare the present alloy. Ofcourse, the scope of the present invention includes the addition of moreor less iron together with the adjustment of the content of all alloyingconstituents.

After alloying, the melted aluminum composition is continuously castinto a continuous bar. The bar is then hot-worked in substantially thatcondition in which it is received from the casting machine. A typicalhot-working operation comprises rolling the bar in a rolling millsubstantially immediately after being cast into a bar.

One example of a continuous casting and rolling operation capable ofproducing continuous rod as specified in this application is as follows:

A continuous casting machine serves as a means for solidifying themolten aluminum alloy metal to provide a cast bar that is conveyed insubstantially the condition in which it solidified from the continuouscasting machine to the rolling mill, which serves as a means forhot-forming the cast bar into rod or another hot-formed product in amanner which imparts substantial movement to the cast bar along aplurality of angularly disposed axes.

The continuous casting machine is of conventional casting wheel typehaving a casting wheel with a casting groove partially closed by anendless belt supported by the casting wheel and an idler pulley. Thecasting wheel and the endless belt cooperate to provide a mold into oneend of which molten metal is poured to solidify and from the other endof which the cast bar is emitted in substantially that condition inwhich it is solidified.

The rolling mill is of conventional type having a plurality of rollstands arranged to hot-form the cast bar by a series of deformations.The continuous casting machine and the rolling mill are positionedrelative to each other so that the cast bar enters the rolling millsubstantially immediately after solidification and in substantially thatcondition in which it solidified. In this condition, the cast bar is ata hot-forming temperature within the range of temperatures forhot-forming the cast bar at the initiation of hot-forming withoutheating between the casting machine and the rolling mill. In the eventthat it is desired to closely control the hot-forming temperature of thecast bar within the conventional range of hot-forming temperatures,means for adjusting the temperature of the cast bar may be placedbetween the continuous casting machine and the rolling mill withoutdeparting from the inventive concept disclosed herein.

The roll stands each include a plurality of rolls which engage the castbar. The rolls of each roll stand may be two or more in number andarranged diametrically opposite from one another or arranged at equallyspaced positions about the axis of movement of the cast bar through therolling mill. The rolls of each roll stand of the rolling mill arerotated at a predetermined speed by a power means such as one or moreelectric motors and the casting wheel is rotated at a speed generallydetermined by its operating characteristics. The rolling mill serves tohot-form the cast bar into a rod of a cross-sectional area substantiallyless than that of the cast bar as it enters the rolling mill.

The peripheral surfaces of the rolls of adjacent roll stands in therolling mill change in configuration; that is, the cast bar is engagedby the rolls of successive roll stands with surfaces of varyingconfiguration, and from different directions. This varying surfaceengagement of the cast bar in the roll stands functions to knead orshape the metal in the cast bar in such a manner that it is worked ateach roll stand and also to simultaneously reduce and change thecross-sectional area of the cast bar into that of the rod.

As each roll stand engages the cast bar, it is desirable that the castbar be received with sufficient volume per unit for time at the rollstand for the cast bar to generally fill the space defined by the rollsof the roll stand so that the rolls will be effective to work the metalin the cast bar. However, it is also desirable that the space defined bythe rolls of each roll stand not be overfilled so that the cast bar willnot be forced into the gaps between the rolls. Thus, it is desirablethat the rod be fed toward each roll stand at a volume per unit of timewhich is sufficient to fill, but not overfill, the space defined by therolls of the roll stand.

As the cast bar is received from the continuous casting machine, itusually has one large flat surface corresponding to the surface of theendless band and inwardly tapered side surfaces corresponding to theshape of the groove in the casting wheel. As the cast bar is compressedby the rolls of the roll stands, the cast bar is deformed so that itgenerally takes the cross-sectional shape defined by the adjacentperipheries of the rolls of each roll stand.

Thus, it will be understood that with this apparatus, cast aluminumalloy rod of an infinite number of different lengths is prepared bysimultaneous casting of the molten aluminum alloy and hot-forming orrolling the cast aluminum bar.

The continuous rod produced by the casting and rolling operation is thenprocessed in a reduction operation designed to produce continuous wireof various gauges. The unannealed rod (i.e., as rolled to ƒ temper) iscold-drawn through a series of progressively constricted dies, withoutintermediate anneals, to form a continuous wire of desired diameter. Atthe conclusion of this drawing operation, the alloy wire will have anexcessively high tensile strength and an unacceptably low ultimateelongation, plus a conductivity below that which is industry accepted asthe minimum for an electrical conductor, i.e., sixty-one percent ofIACS. The wire is then annealed or partially annealed to obtain adesired tensile strength and cooled. At the conclusion of the annealingoperation, it is found that the annealed wire has the properties ofacceptable conductivity and improved tensile strength together withunexpectedly improved percent ultimate elongation and surprisinglyincreased bendability and fatigue resistance as specified previously inthis application. The annealing operation may be continuous as inresistance annealing, induction annealing, convection annealing bycontinuous furnaces or radiation annealing by continuous furnaces, or,preferably, may be batch annealed in a batch furnace. When continuouslyannealing, temperatures of about 450° F. to about 1200° F. may beemployed with annealing times of about five minutes to about 1/10,000 ofa minute. Generally, however, continuous annealing temperatures andtimes may be adjusted to meet the requirements of the particular overallprocessing operation so long as the desired tensile strength isachieved. In a batch annealing operation, a temperature of approximately400° F. to about 750° F. is employed with residence times of aboutthirty (30) minutes to about twenty-four (24) hours. As mentioned withrespect to continuous annealing, in batch annealing the times andtemperatures may be varied to suit the overall process so long as thedesired tensile strength is obtained. Simply by way of example, it hasbeen found that the following tensile strengths in the present aluminumwire are achieved with the listed batch annealing temperature and times.

                  TABLE I                                                         ______________________________________                                                      Temperature                                                     Tensile strength                                                                            (° F.) Time (hrs.)                                       ______________________________________                                        12,000-14,000 650           3                                                 14,000-15,000 550           3                                                 15,000-17,000 520           3                                                 17,000-22,000 480           3                                                 ______________________________________                                    

During the continuous casting of this alloy, a substantial portion ofthe iron present in the alloy precipitates out of solution as ironaluminate intermetallic compound (FeAl₃). Thus, after casting, the barcontains a dispersion of FeAl₃ in a supersaturated solid solutionmatrix. The supersaturated matrix may contain as much as 0.17 weightpercent iron. As the bar is rolled in a hot-working operationimmediately after casing, the FeAl₃ particles are broken up anddispersed throughout the matrix inhibiting large cell formation. Whenthe rod is then drawn to its final gauge size without intermediateanneals and then aged in a final annealing operation, the tensilestrength, elongation and bendability are increased due to the small cellsize and the additional pinning of dislocations by preferentialprecipitation of FeAl₃ on the dislocation sites. Therefore, newdislocation sources must be activated under the applied stress of thedrawing operation and this causes both the strength and the elongationto be further improved.

The properties of the present aluminum alloy wire are significantlyaffected by the size of the FeAl₃ particles in the matrix. Coarseprecipitates reduce the percent elongation and bendability of the wireby enhancing nucleation and thus, formation of large cells which, inturn, lowers the recrystallization temperature of the wire. Fineprecipitates improve the percent elongation and bendability by reducingnucleation and increasing the recrystallization temperature. Grosslycoarse precipitates of FeAl₃ cause the wire to become brittle andgenerally unusable. Coarse precipitates have a particle size of above2,000 angstrom units and fine precipitates have a particle size of below2,000 angstrom units.

A typical alloy No. 12 AWG wire of the present invention has physicalproperties of 15,000 p.s.i. tensile strength, ultimate elongation of20%, conductivity of 61% IACS, and bendability of 20 bends to break.Ranges of physical properties generally provided by No. 12 AWG wireprepared from the present alloy include tensile strengths of about12,000 to about 22,000 p.s.i. ultimate elongations of about 40% to about5%, conductivities of about 61% to about 63% and number of bends tobreak of about 45 to 10.

A more complete understanding of the invention will be obtained from thefollowing examples.

EXAMPLE 1

A comparison between prior EC aluminum alloy wire and the presentaluminum alloy wire is provided by preparing a prior EC alloy withaluminum content of 99.73 weight percent, iron content of 0.18 weightpercent, silicon content of 0.059 weight percent, and trace amounts oftypical impurities. The present alloy is prepared with aluminum contentof 99.45 weight percent, iron content of 0.45 weight percent, siliconcontent of 0.056 weight percent, and trace amounts of typicalimpurities. Both alloys are continuously cast into continuous bars andhot-rolled into continuous rod in similar fashion. The alloys are thencold-drawn through successively constricted dies to yield #12 AWGcontinuous wire. Sections of the wire are collected on seperate bobbinsand batch furnace-annealed at various temperatures and for variouslengths of time to yield sections of the prior EC alloy and the presentalloy of varying tensile strengths. Several samples of each section aretested in a device designed to measure the number of bends required tobreak each sample at a particular flexure point. Through uniform forceand tension, the device fatigues each sample through an arc ofapproximately 135°. The wire is bent across a pair of spaced opposedmandrels having a diameter equal to that of the wire. The mandrels arespaced apart a distance of about one and one-half times the diameter ofthe wire. One bend is recorded after the wire is deflected from avertical disposition to one extreme of the arc, returned back tovertical, deflected to the opposite extreme of the arc, and returnedback to the original vertical disposition. The speed of deflection,force and tension are substantially equal for all tested samples. Theresults are as follows:

                  TABLE II-A                                                      ______________________________________                                        EC alloy         Present alloy                                                Tensile  No. of bends                                                                              Tensile    Average No. of                                strength to break    strength   bends to break                                ______________________________________                                        10,083    431/2      13,500     44                                            12,788   24          14,300     43                                            13,480    211/2      15,100     36                                            14,168   14          16,025      291/2                                        15,200    133/4      17,050     23                                            16,100   11          17,134     18                                            17,125   93/4        18,253     14                                            18,186   83/4        19,571     13                                            23,069   51/2        25,286     43/4                                          29,309   4           35,986     31/2                                          ______________________________________                                    

As shown in Table II-A, the present alloy has a surprisingly improvedproperty of bendability over conventional EC alloy.

Several samples of the present alloy #12 AWG wire and EC alloy #12 AWGwire, processed as previously specified, are then tested for percentultimate elongation by standard testing procedures. At the instant ofbreakage, the increase in length of the wire is measured. The percentultimate elongation is then figured by dividing the initial length ofthe wire sample into the increase in length of the wire sample. Thetensile strength of the wire sample is recorded as the pounds per squareinch of cross-sectional diameter required to break the wire during thepercent ultimate elongation test. The results are as follows:

                  TABLE II-B                                                      ______________________________________                                        EC alloy         Present alloy                                                Tensile Percent ulti-                                                                              Tensile    Percent ulti-                                 strength                                                                              mate elongation                                                                            strength   mate elongation                               ______________________________________                                        10,000  30.5         13,500     30.8                                          12,700  21           14,300     30                                            13,500  14           15,525     24                                            14,200  11.5         16,150     19                                            15,000  8            16,550     16                                            16,500  3.5          17,200     13.2                                          18,300  2            18,270     8.6                                                                19,000     6.7                                           ______________________________________                                    

As shown in Table II-B, the present alloy has a surprisingly improvedproperty of percent ultimate elongation over conventional EC alloy.

EXAMPLES 2 THROUGH 7

Six aluminum alloys are prepared with varying amounts of majorconstituents. Those alloys are reported in the following table:

                  TABLE III                                                       ______________________________________                                        Example No.                                                                             Percent Al Percent Fe  Percent Si                                   ______________________________________                                        2         99.73      0.180       0.059                                        3         99.52      0.385       0.063                                        4         99.46      0.450       0.056                                        5         99.36      0.540       0.064                                        6          99.275    0.680       0.015                                        7         99.20      0.750       0.030                                        ______________________________________                                    

The six alloys are then cast into six continuous bars and hot-rolledinto six continuous rods. The rods are cold-drawn through successivelyconstricted dies to yield #12 gauge wire. The wire produced from thealloys of Examples 2 and 4 are resistance annealed and the remainder ofthe examples are batch furnace annealed to yield the tensile strengthsreported in Table IV. After annealing, each of the wires is tested forpercent conductivity, tensile strength, percent ultimate elongation andaverage number of bends to break by standard testing procedures foreach, except that the procedure specified in Example 1 is used fordetermining average number of bends to break. These results are reportedin the following table.

                  TABLE IV                                                        ______________________________________                                                 Conductiv-                                                                    ity in             Percent Average                                            percent   Tensile  ultimate                                                                              No. of bends                              Example No.                                                                            IACS      strength elongation                                                                            to break                                  ______________________________________                                        2        62.8      15,150   8.1     151/2                                     3        61.3      15.153   28.0    271/2                                     5        61.5      15.152   37.5    28                                                 61.5      15,152   35.0    281/2                                     6        61.25     14,300   28.0    32                                        7        61.2      15,800   25      28                                        ______________________________________                                    

From a review of these results, it may be seen that Example 2 fallsoutside the scope of the present invention in percentage of components.In addition, it will be noted for Example 2 that the percentage ofultimate elongation is somewhat lower than desirable and the averagenumber of bends to break the sample is lower than the remainingexamples.

EXAMPLE 8

An aluminum alloy is prepared with an aluminum content of 99.42 weightpercent, iron content of 0.50 weight percent, silicon content of 0.055weight percent and trace amounts of typical impurities. The alloy iscast into a continuous bar which is hot-rolled to yield a continuousrod. The rod is then cold-drawn through successively constricted dies toyield #12 AWG wire. The wire is collected on a 30 inch bobbin until thecollected wire weighs approximately 250 pounds. The bobbin is thenplaced in a cold General Electric Bell Furnace and the temperaturetherein is raised to 480° F. The temperature of the furnace is held at480° F. for three hours after which the heat is terminated and thefurnace cools to 400° F. The furnace is then quick cooled and the bobbinis removed. Under testing, it is found that the alloy wire has aconductivity of 16.6% IACS, a tensile strength of 16,500 p.s.i., apercentage of ultimate elongation of 20%, and a number of bends to breakof 18.

EXAMPLE 9

Example 8 is repeated except the Bell Furnace temperature is raised to500° F. and held for three hours prior to cooling. The annealed alloywire has a conductivity of 61.4% IACS, a tensile strength of 15,000p.s.i., a percentage of ultimate elongation of 27%, and a number ofbends to break of 28.

EXAMPLE 10

Example 8 is repeated except the Bell Furnace temperature is raised to600° F. and held for three hours prior to cooling. The annealed alloywire has a conductivity of 61.2% IACS, a tensile strength of 14,000p.s.i., a percentage of elongation of 30%, and a number of bends tobreak of 43.

EXAMPLE 11

Example 8 is repeated except the Bell Furnace temperature is raised to600° F. and held 11/2 hours prior to cooling. The annealed alloy has aconductivity of 61.5% IACS, a tensile strength of 16,000 p.s.i., apercentage of elongation of 22%, and a number of bends to break of 23.

EXAMPLE 12

The alloy of Example 8 is cast into a continuous bar which is hot-rolledto yield a continuous ƒ temper rod of 3/8 inch diameter. The rod is thencold-drawn through successively constricted dies to yield #14 AWG wire.The wire is then redrawn on a Synchro Model BG-16 wire drawing machinewhich includes a Synchro Resistoneal continuous in line annealer. Thewire is drawn to #28 AWG at a finishing speed of 3,300 feet per minuteand the in line annealer is operated at 52 volts with transformer tapsetting at No. 8. The annealed alloy wire has a conductivity of 62% IAS,a tensile strength of 15,450 p.s.i., and a percentage of ultimateelongation of 25%. Since the wire gauge is so small, the number of bendsto break is extremely large.

EXAMPLE 13

The alloy of Example 8 is cast into a continuous bar which is hot-rolledto yield a continuous ƒ temper rod of 3/8 inch diameter. The rod is thencold-drawn on a Synchro Style No. FX13 wire drawing machine whichincludes a continuous in line annealer. The rod is drawn to #12 AWG wireat a finishing speed of 2,000 feet per minute and the in line annealervoltage at preheater #1 is 35 volts, at preheater #2 is 35 volts, and atthe annealer is 22 volts. The three transformer taps are set at #5. Theannealed alloy wire has a conductivity of 62% IACS, a tensile strengthof 16,300 p.s.i., and a percentage of ultimate elongation of 20%.

For the purpose of clarity, the following terminology used in thisapplication is explained as follows:

Rod--A solid product that is long in relation to its cross-section. Rodnormally has a cross-section between three inches and 0.375 inches.

Wire--A solid wrought product that is long in relation to itscross-section, which is square or rectangunlar with sharp or roundedcorners or edges, or is round, a regular hexagon or a regular octagon,and whose diameter or greatest perpendicular distance between parallelfaces is between 0.374 inches and 0.0031 inches.

While this invention has been described in detail with particularreference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood thatvariations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scopeof the invention as described hereinbefore and as defined in theappended claims.

I claim: .[.1. Aluminum alloy rod or wire having a minimum conductivityof sixty-one percent IACS and a diameter or greatest perpendiculardistance between parallel faces of between 3.00 inches and 0.0031 inchesconsisting essentially of from about 0.55 to about 0.95 weight percentiron; no more than about 0.15 weight percent silicon; less than 0.05weight percent each of trace elements selected from the group consistingof vanadium, copper, manganese, magnesium, zinc, boron, and titanium;and from about 98.95 to less than 99.45 weight percent aluminum, saidalloy containing no more than 0.15 total weight percent trace elementsand having an iron to silicon ratio of 8:1 or greater..]. .[.2. Aluminumalloy rod of claim 1 consisting essentially of from about 0.80 to about0.95 weight percent iron; from about 0.07 to about 0.15 weight percentsilicon; and from about 98.95 to about 99.13 weight percent aluminum..]..[.3. Aluminum alloy wire of claim 1 consisting essentially of fromabout 0.80 to about 0.95 weight percent iron; from about 0.07 to about0.15 weight percent silicon; and from about 98.95 to about 99.13 weightpercent aluminum..]. .[.4. Aluminum alloy wire of claim 1 consistingessentially of from about 0.55 to about 0.80 weight percent iron; fromabout 0.01 to about 0.07 weight percent silicon; and from about 99.15 toabout 99.40 weight percent aluminum..]. .[.5. Aluminum alloy rod ofclaim 1 consisting essentially of from about 0.55 to about 0.80 weightpercent iron; from about 0.01 to about 0.07 weight percent silicon; andfrom about 99.15 to about 99.40 weight percent aluminum..]. .[.6.Aluminum alloy wire of claim 1 consisting essentially of from about 0.55to less than 0.60 weight percent iron; from about 0.01 to about 0.15weight percent silicon; and from about 99.10 to about 99.44 weightpercent aluminum..]. .[.7. Aluminum alloy rod of claim 1 consistingessentially of from about 0.55 to less than 0.60 weight percent iron;from about 0.01 to about 0.15 weight percent silicon; and from about99.10 to about 99.44 weight percent aluminum..].
 8. Aluminum alloy.[.rod or.]. wire having a minimum conductivity of sixty-one percentIACS and a diameter or greatest perpendicular distance between parallelfaces of between .[.3.00.]. .Iadd.0.374 .Iaddend.inches and 0.0031inches and containing substantially evenly distributed iron aluminateinclusions in a concentration produced by the presence of about 0.45 toabout 0.95 weight percent iron in an alloy mass consisting essentiallyof about 98.95 to less than 99.45 weight percent aluminum; no more thanabout 0.15 weight percent silicon; and less than 0.05 weight percenteach of trace elements selected from the group consisting of vanadium,copper, maganese, magnesium, zinc, boron, and titanium, said ironaluminate inclusions having a particle size of less than 2,000 angstromunits. .[.9. Aluminum alloy rod of claim 8 wherein iron is present in aconcentration of about 0.55 to about 0.95 weight percent; silicon ispresent in a concentration of about 0.01 to about 0.15 weight percent;and aluminum is present in a concentration of about 98.95 to about 99.44weight percent..]. .[.10. Aluminum alloy wire of claim 8 wherein iron ispresent in a concentration of about 0.55 to about 0.95 weight percent;silicon is present in a concentration of about 0.01 to about 0.15 weightpercent; and aluminum is present in a concentration of about 98.95 toabout 99.44 weight percent..]. .[.11. Aluminum alloy rod of claim 8wherein iron is present in a concentration of about 0.80 to about 0.95weight percent; silicon is present in a concentration of about 0.07 toabout 0.15 weight percent; and aluminum is present in a concentration ofabout 98.95 to about 99.13 weight percent..].
 12. Aluminum alloy wire ofclaim 8 wherein .[.iron is present in a concentration of about 0.80 toabout 0.95 weight percent;.]. silicon is present in a concentration ofabout .Badd..[.0.07.]..Baddend. .Iadd.0.015 .Iaddend.to about 0.15weight percent .[.; and aluminum is present in a concentration of about98.95 to about 99.13 weight percent.]..
 13. Aluminum alloy wire of claim8 wherein iron is present in a concentration of about 0.50 to about 0.80weight percent; silicon is present in a concentration of about.[.0.01.]. .Iadd.0.015 .Iaddend.to about 0.07 weight percent; aluminumis present in a concentration of about 99.15 to about 99.40 weightpercent. .[.14. Aluminum alloy rod of claim 8 wherein iron is present ina concentration of about 0.50 to about 0.80 weight percent; silicon ispresent in a concentration of about 0.01 to about 0.07 weight percent;aluminum is present in a concentration of about 99.15 to about 99.40weight percent..]. .[.15. Aluminum alloy wire of claim 8 wherein iron ispresent in a concentration of about 0.45 to less than 0.60 weightpercent; silicon is present in a concentration of about 0.01 to about0.15 weight percent; and aluminum is present in a concentration of about99.10 to about 99.54 weight percent..]. .[.16. Aluminum alloy rod ofclaim 8 wherein iron is present in a concentration of about 0.45 to lessthan 0.60 weight percent; silicon is present in a concentration of about0.01 to about 0.15 weight percent; and aluminum is present in aconcentration of about 99.10 to about 99.54 weight percent..]. .[.17.Aluminum alloy wire of claim 8 wherein iron is present in aconcentration of about 0.55 to less than 0.60 weight percent; silicon ispresent in a concentration of about 0.01 to about 0.15 weight percent;and aluminum is present in a concentration of about 99.10 to about 99.44weight percent..]. .[.18. Aluminum alloy rod of claim 8 wherein iron ispresent in a concentration of about 0.55 to less than 0.60 weightpercent; silicon is present in a concentration of about 0.01 to about0.15 weight percent; and aluminum is present in a concentration of about99.10 to about 99.44 weight percent..]. .[.19. Aluminum alloy rod orwire of claim 1 wherein the silicon content is from 0.01 to 0.15 weightpercent, the individual trace element content is from 0.0001 to 0.05,weight percent and the total trace element content is from 0.004 to 0.15weight percent..]. .[.20. Aluminum alloy rod or wire of claim 8 whereinthe silicon content is from 0.01 to 0.15 weight percent, the individualtrace element content is from 0.0001 to 0.05, and the total traceelement content is from 0.004 to 0.15 weight percent..]. .Iadd. 21.Aluminum alloy wire having a minimum conductivity of sixty-one percentIACS and a diameter or greatest perpendicular distance between parallelfaces of between 0.374 inches and 0.0031 inches and containingsubstantially evenly distributed iron aluminate inclusions in aconcentration produced by the presence of about 0.45 to about 0.95weight percent iron in an alloy mass consisting essentially of about98.95 to less than 99.45 weight percent aluminum; 0.015 to 0.15 weightpercent silicon; trace quantities of less than 0.05 weight percent eachof trace elements selected from the group consisting of vanadium,copper, manganese, magnesium, zinc, boron, and titanium, and a totaltrace element content of no more than 0.15 weight percent, said ironaluminate inclusions having a particle size of less than 2,000 angstromunits. .Iaddend.